In the wake of real estate executive Erez Itzhaki’s announcement that he had handed over control of his eponymous brokerage to a new partner, three Itzhaki graduates have announced the formation of a new brokerage and management firm, they told The Real Deal today.
Former Itzhaki brokers Andrew Feldman, Barry Farchi and Mansour Tabibnia, who all left the firm in the last two months, have established commercial brokerage firm Azad Property Group and management house R.O.I Management, they said. The trio opened its first office, a 1,500-square-foot space at 40 Exchange Place in the Financial District for both companies, last week.
“We’re known in our industry as the kind of brokers who are not normally in the newspaper,” Feldman said. “We have a reputation for working on quiet deals that no one knows about. That’s our niche.”
They started the firms, which launched last week, Farchi said, because the timing was right. Investors approached Feldman, he said, with the idea for a brokerage and management firm: “We agreed on a game plan,” he said.
Azad, will market retail, office and industrial properties, the trio said, while R.O.I., will offer management services for commercial and residential properties. Services will include pre-construction planning, and the management of sales, leasing, marketing and financing.
“We’re a one-stop shop. We’re the Walmart of brokers, only classy,” Feldman told The Real Deal, adding that the firm already has the capital from silent real estate industry investors in place to begin doing deals. They declined to identify the source of their capital more specifically. The firm already has 20 commercial property listings, he said, though some are not exclusives.
The firm is in negotiations to hire seven brokers thus far, Farchi said, but is being selective about the professionals it brings on board. No one has signed on as yet.
“We prefer to bring the right people in to be with us,” he said. “We’re a boutique brokerage and we’d rather have 12 aggressive, experienced brokers as opposed to 30 brokers running wild.”
Erez Itzhaki was not immediately available for comment.
While at Itzhaki, which is now operated by broker and auctioneer Isaac Glasman, the trio did some high-profile deals. Farchi, for example, brokered the $32 million sale of a Penn Plaza building at 240 West 35th Street to Eretz Group in 2005. Mansour has focused on retail, having recently brokered deals at 550 Broadway and 15 Mercer Street.